A Death-Struck Year (Hardcover)

Staff Reviews

Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish influenza pandemic (which is now
largely believed to have been born in Haskell County, Kansas, spreading
to a nearby military base and, from there, moving on to Europe and the
rest of the world as WWI was being fought) killed an estimated 30-50
million people worldwide, including nearly 675,000 Americans. It
attacked anybody and everybody, not just the old, the very young, or the

infirm. It could kill in a single day, or it could take days or weeks.
Some recovered, many did not. This story is told through the eyes of
17-year-old Cleo, who—once her school was closed down by order of the
Mayor—decided to go to some of the ad-hoc hospitals to help the Red
Cross, while the rest of her family was stranded in San Francisco. In
days she saw the horror of this disease spread, ultimately witnessing
the terrible deaths of people she
knew and even some dear friends. She grew up
very, very fast, but found her strength in saving as many people as she
could. I learned a lot in this quick-moving, hard-to-put-down
historical novel. While it's considered YA, I think a whole spectrum
of folks would be fascinated by the story." ~Jackie

— Jackie is the No. 1 Bookblogger at Tattered Cover.

Description

For Cleo Berry, the people dying of the Spanish Influenza in cities like New York and Philadelphia may as well be in another country that's how far away they feel from the safety of Portland, Oregon. And then cases start being reported in the Pacific Northwest. Schools, churches, and theaters shut down. The entire city is thrust into survival mode and into a panic.Headstrong and foolish, seventeen-year-old Cleo is determined to ride out the pandemic in the comfort of her own home, rather than in her quarantined boarding school dorms. But when the Red Cross pleads for volunteers, she can't ignore the call. As Cleostruggles to navigate theworld around her, sheis surprised by how much she finds herself caring about near-strangers.Strangers like Edmund, a handsome medical student and war vet. Strangers who could be gone tomorrow. And as the bodies begin to pile up, Cleo can't help but wonder: when will her own luck run out? Riveting and well-researched, A Death-Struck Year is based on the real-life pandemic considered the most devastating in recorded world history. Readers will be captured by the suspenseful storytelling and the lingering questions of: what would I do for a neighbor? At what risk to myself? An afterword explains the Spanish flu phenomenon, placing it within the historical context of the early 20th century. Source notes are extensive and interesting.